· Western News · By John Blodgett · From the Border Crossing Law Firm media archive.
The Western News presents Sheriff Roby Bowe's defense of holding Agustin Ramon under an ICE detainer. Bowe argued that the bond was never actually posted and that federal detainers were routine, while the ACLU and Shahid Haque maintained that Montana law required release once bond was available and did not authorize civil immigration detention.
The article preserves the factual and legal disagreement that the court had to resolve. It also shows how a sheriff's broad view of cooperation with federal agencies could produce months of additional confinement before any judge reviewed the immigration request.